Jon Jackson was named Deputy Director of Athletics/Men’s Basketball, Blue Devil Network and Digital Media in October 2018 after serving as the Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs and leading a staff of more than 40 employees in the digital/social media, marketing and promotions, media relations, ticket operations, and video production departments since 2013.

In his current role, Jackson serves as the senior administrator of Duke’s highly successful men’s basketball program, while also remaining as its communications strategist. He remains in an oversight role of Duke’s Blue Devil Network and digital/social media teams, as well as acting as the school’s liaison to the Atlantic Coast Conference regarding multimedia and broadcasting matters, including the linear launch of the ACC Network in fall of 2019.

Additionally, the 28-year college athletics veteran manages strategic communications for the Duke men’s basketball program and continues to handle media activities specifically relating to Duke Head Basketball Coach Mike Krzyzewski. During Jackson’s tenure, Duke has realized 102 honors by players recognized as National Player of the Year (six), National Defensive Player of the Year (five), All-American (27), ACC Player of the Year (seven), ACC Rookie of the Year (seven) and All-ACC (50).

Previously, in addition to serving as the athletics department’s primary liaison to several campus communication groups, Jackson was the administrator for the Blue Devils’ wrestling program, which secured its best NCAA finish in 2018 and, as a non-scholarship program, recorded its five highest NCAA Championships placements from 2014-18. In 2012, he coordinated a search that resulted in hiring wrestling coach Glen Lanham, who was the first African-American head coach in Duke Athletics history.

Since taking over the Duke External Affairs area in summer 2013, Jackson oversaw dramatic growth in the award-winning division, including generating record gross revenue numbers annually and 29% growth from 2013-18; hiring and organizing the group’s diverse leadership team; adding major resource to both personnel and funding; purchasing the first video production truck and full scale facility in the history of the university; bringing athletics event live streaming to tablets and smartphones; bringing the department’s first full-time football marketing, social media and photography employees to Durham; implementing a digital ticketing platform; and renovating multiple areas, including the Duke Wrestling practice facility and the Bill Brill Media Room in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Since 2013, Duke’s sports information, marketing and video staffs all earned national recognition for excellence in their respective fields.

Recognizing the changing consumption habits of fans, Jackson and his team ensured that Duke remains on the forefront in the digital media space. In 2012, Duke launched the Blue Devil Network, which features live and on demand video and audio content from its 27 varsity sports and utilizes the school’s official athletic website, GoDuke.com, to power the digital network. Annually, the Blue Devil Network staff produces in excess of 150 live broadcasts of Duke events, many of which are shown on the family of ESPN platforms. In 2018, Duke became one of the first ACC schools to produce a live linear broadcast for ESPN of out its new production facility.

The Duke digital media team, overseen by Jackson, has orchestrated robust expansion in this sector Unique visitors, mobile visits, average visit durations, live event and on-demand video views, subscription revenue and advertising sales have trended in a positive direction for the past several years, including establishing record-high subscription and auction revenue numbers. In April of 2015, while the men’s basketball program was on its way to its fifth NCAA championship, GoDuke.com recorded the first one million page view day in its history. Duke fans have downloaded more than 150,000 composite mobile applications on iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

The department’s official Facebook account consistently ranks among the nation’s top 20 nationally with more than 448,000 “page likes” and Duke achieved a top 20 social media ranking within college athletics from SportsFanGraphs, which measures fans and engagement. The Duke Athletics social media account also moved within the top 25 nationally for Instagram followers.

Jackson is a member of several organizations and committees, including the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), the Atlantic Coast Conference Multimedia Rights / ACC Network Committee, the Football Writers Association of America, and the United States Basketball Writers Association. A long-time member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), Jackson also served his alma mater as a member of the Penn State University John Curley Center for Sports Journalism Board of Visitors from 2007–12.

Jackson arrived in Durham in January 2000 after being named Duke Sports Information Director. Previously, he served as an Assistant Athletics Director for Communication at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. While at SMU, Jackson oversaw the media efforts for all 17 of the school’s intercollegiate sports and was the primary contact for the Mustang football and men’s basketball programs. He began his SMU career as an Assistant Sports Information Director in 1991.

Jackson went to SMU after working for one year as a Staff Assistant at the University of Florida in 1990-91 and three years as a student assistant at the Penn State University SID office. He also interned with the United States Olympic Committee during the summer of 1990. A native of Lebanon, Pa., Jackson graduated from Penn State University with distinction in 1990 with a B.A. degree in mass communications.

Jackson and his wife Cheryl reside in Durham. He has two children – daughter Kailey and son Evan.